Colorado School Seizes on Opportunity for Local Control

As the principal of an elementary school in Apple Valley, Calif.,
Brian Ewert was so frustrated by the state and district mandates he had
to follow that he considered changing careers.

"California was very top-down. The autonomy was nonexistent," Mr.
Ewert recalled of his experiences there some five years ago. "We had
parent-community meetings and organizations on school improvement, but,
realistically, there was little we could do."

Hoping things would be better elsewhere, Mr. Ewert took a job as the
principal of Mountain View Elementary School in Colorado Springs,
Colo., in 1995. Since then, the 35-year-old administrator has enjoyed
more freedom than he thought possible.

"I had no idea what autonomy was until I came to Colorado," he said.
"I was frightened by how much a school could do when the community gets
behind you."

To be sure, the Rocky Mountain State is no bastion of anything-goes
education. It adopted statewide academic standards in 1993, and
recently completed its second round of tests based on those standards.
And districts must accredit local schools based on scores from the
tests.

Last year, the legislature also adopted the Basic Literacy Act,
which requires schools to test all K-3 pupils and devise individual
reading plans and strategies for those who are at risk of falling below
grade level.

Still, Mr. Ewert has taken advantage of state laws that allow his
410-student school to obtain exemptions from some administrative
rules.

Two years ago, Mr. Ewert asked the school board in the
16,000-student Academy School District 20 to give him a budget worth
$4,000 per student and a waiver from the district's prescriptive
funding formula.

"I didn't want to be a charter school, but I wanted to be funded
like a charter," Mr. Ewert said, referring to the public schools that
are allowed to operate free of most state and local
regulations.

Flexible Model

The board granted his request for the 1998-99 school year, and
Mountain View's staff has since proved willing to shift staff
assignments in order to free up money for new academic programs.

For example, when a playground monitor retired recently, Mr. Ewert
asked his teachers if they would share that task on a voluntary basis.
In exchange, the monitor's $10,000 salary could help pay for a new
mentoring program designed to raise reading skills. The teachers signed
on.

"This budget doesn't give you more money, but it gives you more
flexibility," Mr. Ewert said.

Mountain View also found a way to reduce the amount it pays the
district for transportation services. The school downsized from 13
buses and 156 stops to a hub-based system of nine buses and 40 stops.
Some parents were upset, but the move will save the district up to
$30,000 a year.

Nanette Anderson, the spokeswoman for the sprawling Academy district
in northern Colorado Springs, said Mountain View was the first of three
elementary schools allowed to use the alternative budget.

"We don't let principals completely upend how they run schools," she
said. "But this gives principals an incentive to control costs."

Ms. Anderson said the district is interested in expanding the model
to more of its 25 schools. But, she added, "this is a very hard system
to implement at the middle school and high school because things are
more expensive."

Steven J. Pratt, the executive director of the Colorado Association
of School Executives, said that more principals would like the breaks
from protocol that Mr. Ewert has received. He noted that relatively few
districts in Colorado take advantage of their ability to relax
oversight of local schools.

Contracting Option

Colorado districts soon may have more incentive to be creative,
however, as state officials are working on an innovative program that
would allow districts to negotiate "performance contracts" directly
with the state.

Under the contracts, districts would agree to certain performance
targets for a six-year period. Districts that fell behind could get
technical aid from the state. Those that didn't take corrective action
could lose their accreditation. In exchange for agreeing on goals,
districts would also be allowed to negotiate some relief from state
rules.

Mr. Pratt said such contracts could force local school officials to
think of new approaches to an old job.

"My sense is that lots of us in education need to take a long, hard
look at how we conduct business," he added. "The demands of patrons and
communities say we must be more efficient."

Vol. 18, Issue 31, Page 21

Published in Print: April 14, 1999, as Colorado School Seizes on Opportunity for Local Control

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